CHAPTER 1

Arrogance

His arrogant tone quickly woke me from my haze and I narrowed my eyes at him.

"I don't know what you're talking about." I snapped and tried to shut the door in his face but he was faster than me and put his sneaker in between.

He raised his brows at me, those gorgeous brown eyes meeting mine.

"This is 5B, Isn't it?" That chick said you had a hammer.

"Well, I don't so be it." I said rather unkindly and opened the door wider so if needed be, I could slam the door on his leg.

But as soon as I cracked the door a little, he slid inside. I gasped idiotically as he grinned at me, his mood completely changed from irritated to smug. Guess that's intruding other people's apartment does to you.

"Oh please do come in, ramdom stranger who could be an ax murderer."

I called after him as he made his way to a cabinet on the hallway where I kept my tools and such. He probably guessed the cabinet's usage and boldly opened the first drawer.

"I'm not an ax murderer, I told you, I need a hammer. But I guess I could be a hammer murderer if you really want me to." He said nonchalantly rummaging through the cabinet.

My cabinet, may add. I sighed and figured that I wouldn't get rid of him unless he'd get that stupid hammer so I walked to him, reach past him so that my sleeved graze his bare skin and handed a hammer to him. He turned to look at me but I deliberately ignored his gaze.

"Here's your hammer. Don't break it or I'll hunt you down and make you pay." I announced with monotonic voice. I figured that if I seemed uninterested enough he wouldn't come knocking on my door again.

He took the hammer, making sure our fingers touch while I rolled my eyes. I did my best to pretend like touching his skin, even for just a brief second didn't make me feel electric that I had just touched a light bulb.

But it did and that only deepend my irritation. Why was I reacting to him like this? Why was I really so desperate that the first guy to literally burst through the door could have my heart if they wanted to? Heck no!

"I'm not sure how I'll supposed to break a hammer but I'll do if it that makes you want to chase after me." He said with a flirtatious wink.

"I'll see you around, 5B. Cute Orland, by the way."

And with that he was out of the door.

I was still recovering from my neighboor's less than welcome visit when Micah returned to the apartment. She charged in as per usual and the first words out of her mouth were.

"Have you seen the new guy around?" I told him that he could come by to pick up some tools if he needed to."

"He was already and thanks for telling me that you're loaning my stuff to strangers. Seriously, Micah Albert, you could have atleast texted me as a warning. I look hideous and I don't want people to witness this awful sight." I said moving my hand in front

of my face.

I hadn't thought that I'd be receiving guests other than Micah today so I was dressed in my old Spongebob themed pyjama pants and a plain pink T-shirts.

My blonde hair was simply a mess held together with a clip. I did not look best and as a little as I cared about the guy's opinion about me I still didn't want to look like a slob because I was raised better than that.

Micah didn't noticed my spiny tone or maybe she just chose to ignore it.

"He's not a stranger. He's your next door neighboor!" She singsonged like a kid with a new toy.

"With a sight-seeing attraction like that next door, from now on I'll be here every weekend."

I greeted my teeth. The guy had only just moved in and I was already getting sick of him. I grew even more annoyed when Micah went on and on about the guy during our girls night.

I shoved popcorn down my throat still a little annoyed about today about today and forced myself to not to tell Micah to shut her mouth.

That it was just a one hot guy and and that she should get over it. But I didn't because I didn't want to ruin our weekend together.

"Oh my gosh! Was he not like the hottest guy you've ever seen?" Micah asked me for the tenth time and this time I decided to answer just to shut her up but not with the answer she was looking for.

Yes, a million times yes.

"No. Too much of a pretty boy." I said disparingly.

"Are you kidding me? I nearly fainted when I first laid my eyes on him." Micah exclaimed.

Her words made me feel both better and worse. Better because I knew then that I wasn't the only one deadly impacted by the guy's looks.

But also worse because Micah was exactly the kind of person to love someone for their looks and I was not. So for us both to be this amazed by some guy did not look good on me.

I was supposed to be sensible one out of the us and I was not living up to my reputation by freezing like an idiot when a hot guy spoke to me.

"Okay, enough talk about the hottie next door. Tell me about home. How are things back at the house?" I tried to change the subject.

I missed my family who lived back in Cebu City, like most of our relatives. I was one of the very few members of the Montenegro family to actually leave the state behind and go to university far away from home.

My pops didn't want to let me go but I had saved up like a maniac so he had to let me go. But he still called me daily to make sure I had everything I needed and just to generally check up on me. I lost my mother when I was a very little but my awesome dad did his best to make up for it.

Micah dismissed my family inquiries fast. "They're good, we're good. Now, would you describe his eye color as piercing brown or striking brown?" She asked then, dead serious.

It's brown, I thought immediately but refused to let my cousin hear that because I'd never hear the end of it.

For an almost eighteen-year-old girl Micah could be really immature. "I didn't really pay attention." I lied instead.

"How could you not? Damn it! Dawn, when a hot guy walks in, you're supposed to memorize all his attributes so you can go brag about them to your girlfriends later! Have I taught you nothing? She sighed. As if I was hopeless.

Maybe I was. Micah had a very certain set of rules when it came to dating guys and despite how many times we had gone over them, I still couldn't remember if you should wait for a guy to call or to call him yourself.

I shrug. "I didn't think he was hot." Another lie.

I mean, I'm not blind even if I pretended to be. He was freaking godlike. You know, if gods looked like annoying swag boys in their twenties that is.

"Besides, I'm not interested in him like that."

"Oh! how quickly you are ready to abandon our epic love story and leave me pining." A voice join our conversation.